Beyond Boundaries

In September 2004, Dr. Rufus Glasper, Chancellor of the Maricopa Community Colleges first shared his vision for the Colleges with civic leaders. At the time, Dr. Glasper attracted more than 600 people to the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Phoenix to share his vision for the Maricopa Community Colleges in a presentation titled “Beyond Boundaries.”  Now, he has built on that vision with “Beyond Boundaries II.”

As a result of the first Beyond Boundaries presentation, Chancellor Glasper instituted “Maricopa Learns Through Service,” a program allowing District employees to spend up to six hours a month doing volunteer work for community-based organizations. In addition, the presentation resulted in creation of the educational empowerment zone. In its early stages of development, the zone will allow the District to create new partnerships to reach out to communities to provide education, training and other opportunities.

View the Chancellor's original Beyond Boundaries speech (pdf).

Beyond Boundaries II, made public in late 2006, is the Chancellor’s statement of beliefs.

1. We believe in access and opportunity. Community colleges are places where those who traditionally could not go to college do, in fact, go to college.
2. We believe in student success and that students have the right to succeed. There is no guarantee that all students will succeed, but an assurance that the Maricopa Community Colleges will do all they can to help each student succeed.
3. We believe in world-class customer service. Maricopa Community Colleges need to ask themselves whether each person they serve would recommend them to friends or family.
4. We believe in providing students with a great education. The Maricopa Community Colleges put learning first. The colleges will provide leading-edge learning spaces and top-notch educational materials and equipment.
5. We believe in serving as colleges for the community. Maricopa Community Colleges have to be responsive to changes in the communities they serve.

In addition, the Chancellor is working with the Maricopa Community Colleges to establish a series of faculty-led dialogues to find answers to some key questions:

• Who are and who will be our constituencies?
• Are we providing the best education for our constituencies, for our times and for the future?
• Are their expectations and motivations aligned with what we perceive?
• How robust and viable is our curriculum for the 21st century?
• Are students really learning and are they better learners when they leave us?
• How sustainable are our systems and facilities that support teaching and learning?
• Is our internal culture able, willing and ready to be reflective and accountable to the changes surrounding us locally, nationally and globally?

Among other opportunities for improvement, the Chancellor cited the need to better align high school and college curricula the development of additional initiatives such as the District’s ACE program to ensure that high school students stay in school; to work hard to ensure that as many students as possible complete their full two years in the District’s colleges before transferring to four-year universities; and to create consistent, predictable transfer requirements. 

View the Chancellor’s entire Beyond Boundaries II speech. (pdf)